I’ve written about medical debt in the past, explaining that not all medical debt is bad. However, medical debt is growing due to Obamacare. I’ve also explained that medical debt has many causes and it’s not always a lack of money. People sometimes refuse to pay because they think their bill is wrong (it often is). Or patients don’t pay outstanding bills because they believe their health plan is liable for the balance. This is just my opinion, but I suspect some outstanding medical debts are because patients think the bill is unfair.
Category: Policy & Legislation
Tuesday Links
- Gene therapy holds great promise. Employer paid health insurance is capable of paying for it.
- Why Sudafed might work despite the science: it’s called the placebo effect. (NYT)
- Was the RSV vaccine developed by experimenting on poor Black children? (NYT)
- Quote of the day by Arnold Kling:
This is a moment of choosing for the American left. Many will side with Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib. That could damage the Progressive brand. It deserves to be damaged.
CBO: Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Not Very Innovative
The poorly named Affordable Care Act created the office of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI). As Joe Albanese explains in National Review the new agency’s mission
…is to test new ways of paying for and delivering health-care services in federal health programs through pilot programs called “models.” These models are required by law to reduce costs and/or improve quality of care, which they pursue by enacting major policy changes.
Friday Links
- Cost and benefits of legalizing pot: The economic benefits are broadly distributed, while the social costs may be more concentrated among individuals who use marijuana heavily. Recommended.
- Capitation v. fee-for-service medicine: fewer visits and fever services.
- Alex Tabarrok on “deaths of despair.”
- Ending homelessness: the case for “Housing First.” Timothy Taylor is always good, but I think I disagree with this.